The Secret Journal of Gabriel Agreste
by Royal Rampion Engineer
Summary: For Miraculous Fluff Month. Gabriel is worried about Adrien's strange behavior, and decides to vent about it in his secret journal.
1. August 1, Entry 27

**Note: Hello! I honestly don't know what this fic is, but I had a lot of fun writing it! I'll try and update every day of Fluff Month, but we'll see how that goes. I hope you enjoy! Also, Marinette and Adrien are dating, but don't want Gabriel to know because Marinette is his intern. Craziness ensues, and Gabriel stays permanently confused by teenagers.**

...

August 1, Entry #27 of Gabriel Agreste's Secret Journal

Adrien was acting strange again today.

This has been a rather daily occurrence, and I cannot help but feel at least a little alarmed. Perhaps I should start parenting him more, listening to his concerns, giving him advice, ect. I'll have to ask Nathalie if she thinks that's a good idea. She'll give me a good, dependable answer, as it seems she knows everything. Well, except for why Adrien's been acting weird. I know because I asked her that already, and she just told me he's in a "phase" and that he'll "grow out of his weird quirks."

I am still concerned.

Adrien, well, he's never been normal, but frankly he's delved a bit too much into the strange side lately.

Does every teenage boy reek of camembert? I've tried to investigate this, but the only other teenage boy I see is Adrien's permanently-earphoned classmate. One day when he came over, I tried to subtly sniff him to see if he also smelled of cheese. I got one sniff in before he turned and stared at me, slack-jawed. To preserve the rest of my dignity, I lifted my chin in the air and haughtily walked away. I believed it worked, as the next time I saw the urchin, he didn't try to give me a "bro-five," whatever strange teenage ritual that is. Thank the heavens. Alas, my query failed, because I smelled no cheese on him. But the urchin does wear those obnoxious earphones and that dreadfully unfashionable hat all the time, so he might not be the best standard for Normal Teenaged Boy. Perhaps I will have to go to the park, or some other teenaged hangout, and sniff teenagers before I come to a final conclusion about my son and his smell. I'll make a note to ask Nathalie her opinion on the idea later.

The other day, I noticed that I've never seen Adrien wear a different outfit. Concerned that he was never washing his clothes, I went to his closet and peeked inside, only to find hundreds of the same shirt and pants hanging up. At least he's wearing clean clothes, but this discovery was still quite alarming. I suppose I did wear the same purple sweater-vest to school for a month in my teenaged years, so maybe Adrien is not quite as far from normal as I am afraid of. However, you would think that being the son of a famous fashion designer, he would at least want to experiment with his style.

I should ask that new intern I hired from his class to design a new outfit for him. Perhaps then, if he knew it was "hip and cool" for his age range, he would consider switching up his clothes.

Speaking of the new intern, (or Marinette, as Adrien constantly reminds me to call her) she's actually doing quite well. I wasn't sure she'd live up to Adrien's raving review of her skills, but so far she's been exceeding all of my expectations. However, she has become one of my concerns about Adrien and the reason for today's entry.

Early today, I went to visit one of Adrien's photoshoots. It was a small shoot, and I had asked the intern to come and shadow the lead designer to see what an actual shoot looks like. I arrived there, and found they only took three pictures when they should have been almost finished. I immediately put my angry face on and got ready to yell when Adrien ran up and stopped me. He explained something about the lead designer being late, as well as there being a snafu with the zipper of his jacket, but I only paid half attention to what he was saying. As he was frantically explaining, I was noticing that a good chunk of the makeup on his cheeks was missing.

"Adrien," I said. "What happened to your makeup? Your blush is smudged."

"Oh, ah," Adrien's face then turned a brilliant shade of red. He glanced off to the side, where I saw the intern standing with her hands behind her back. "See um, Marinette was helping to fix the zipper on the jacket since the actual designer wasn't here yet, but then I told her a joke, which made her laugh." Adrien smiled for a moment, before turning somber. "But then she lost her focus and stabbed herself with the sewing needle." I raised my eyebrows and looked at the intern, whose face was very, very red.

Adrien continued on, the blush not abating. "So I held her hand to help stop the bleeding, but that got blood on my hands, so I grabbed a leaf to wipe it off, but then the wind picked up and the leaf flew back onto my face so I grabbed at it, but instead the leaf just stuck to my newly-applied makeup. When I finally ripped it off the caked-on blush, there was blood on my cheeks, so I wiped that off as well, and," Adrien scratched the back of his neck. "Now my makeup looks like this."

"That's…very unfortunate," I stated, then turned toward the intern. "Is your hand still able to sew?"

"Oh yes!" the girl waved her hands. "All better now!"

I squinted at the intern's hand, where I could see what looked like Adrien's blush staining the tips of her fingers. "How did Adrien's blush get on your hands?"

"Oh!" the intern squeaked out, immediately turning red. "After Adrien got the leaf off of his face, it flew down and almost landed on his jacket, so I grabbed it before it could ruin the piece. The blush from the leaf got all over my hands!" Adrien nodded, confirming what she said. I stared at the two, trying to comprehend this new development.

I turned toward the photographer, gesturing to the two children. "This really happened?"

"Oh yes," The photographer smiled, then winked at Adrien. "What they said occurred, not the story of me running late and coming here to find those two kissing in an alleyway—oh no, the leaf incident was what actually happened."

Adrien coughed, the red blush spreading to the tips of his ears. "Yes, yes he's telling the truth. My story was way more realistic, because Marinette and I aren't, like, dating, or even attracted to each other haha why would anyone think that? Because you're her boss, and it would be improper of me to date her, so we would never in a million years kiss each other."

"Very well," I said cutting off my son's rambling. I then checked my watch, noticing how late it was in the day. "Perhaps we should start taking pictures again now?"

The three agreed, and the shoot finished as normal, despite the fact that Adrien's face stayed several shades redder than normal.

Writing this down has only caused my worry to increase. I will leave it at that to preserve my sanity, and see what strange thing happens to my son tomorrow. Hopefully not another leaf incident.


	2. August 2, Entry 28

Note: Day 2-Goodnight Kisses. Or goodbye kisses, as I read the prompt wrong and already wrote this before I realized it. Oops.

August 2, Entry #28 of Gabriel Agreste's Secret Journal

I am never trusting my son again.

After lunch with the board members, I walked down to the employee cafeteria to see Adrien. I wanted to make sure he was following the diet his nutritionist gave him, as all good fathers do.

Anyway, I walked over to the seating area and saw Adrien talking with the urchin, the intern, and her friend who runs that blog. As I got closer, I saw Adrien lean toward the intern. He pressed a quick kiss against her lips, then slung his book bag over his shoulders and prepared to leave.

"Adrien," I called out.

He turned around, his eyes wide. "Father! What are you doing here?"

"I came to make sure you had a good lunch. The food was satisfactory?"

"Oh yes, it was very good Father. And healthy, very healthy." Adrien's hand tightened on the strap of his bag.

"Good," I nodded, while my mind was still trying to fathom the kiss between my son and the intern. Surely they weren't romantically involved? Shouldn't I have seen it if they were? I decided it was best to ask outright.

"Adrien, why did you kiss the intern?"

The urchin snorted while the blogger pulled out her camera. I shifted my head to the right, making sure she caught my good side. One must always look their best on camera. Meanwhile, my son and the intern were turning the same shade of embarrassed red.

"Well, uh…" Adrien stammered, but then he explained, putting my worries to rest. Well, the ones about him and the intern. I'm still concerned about his strange behavior. "It's the newest teen trend! Yeah, yeah, that's it. It's how teens say goodbye nowadays. See!"

Adrien moved over, and quickly put a kiss on the urchin's lips. The urchin didn't react, he simply raised his eyebrows and said, unimpressed, "Dude."

My son then moved over and did the same thing to the blogger. She looked about ready to throw a right hook into his stomach. The intern watched it all, her eyes wide and mouth smiling.

"See Father," Adrien turned back to me. "It's just something friends do when they want to say goodbye. Nothing out-of-the normal or romantic about it, right guys?"

"Right!" The intern agreed readily.

"Dude," was all the urchin said, slowly shaking his head.

The blogger just scowled.

I was glad my son was finally picking up on teenage social customs, rather than this just being one of his strange actions, so I said, "Thank you for that…enlightening information. I am glad to know you are fitting into the teenage social scene." Behind me, the blogger snorted.

"You're welcome Father," Adrien nodded. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a shoot to model for."

"Be careful with the suit being used for the shoot. The beads on it are very fragile." My son nodded, then ran for the exit. After acknowledging his friends' presence with a barely noticeable tilt of my head, I strode out of the cafeteria and back to my office, digesting the new information.

Later in the day, as I was getting ready to leave the office, Nathalie came in to tell me she was leaving for the day. To avoid the risk of being called old and uncool, I walked up to Nathalie, placed a hand on her cheek, and kissed her like Adrien kissed his friends goodbye.

After barely a moment, Nathalie pushed me off of her. "What are you doing?!" she hissed, frowning.

"Saying goodbye like the teens do it nowadays." Nathalie's eyebrows raised an astonishing amount. I continued on, "Adrien told me today that it was the newest trend. I thought it would be nice to try out some of the teen culture in order to relate more with my son and one of the populations I design for."

Nathalie was still scowling. "Gabriel, never do that again. That is not an actual thing teenagers do."

"Are you sure? Because Adrien's friends didn't seem all that fazed when he did it, and the Gorilla didn't react when I kissed him goodbye." Nathalie blinked. "Unlike another person I know," I muttered, glancing at Nathalie, only to watch her put her head in her hands.

"I'm pretending the last few minutes never happened," Nathalie stated, then promptly left.

So apparently kissing friends goodbye on the lips is not a thing teenagers do. Even my extensive google search came up with no results. I'm afraid asking Adrien about it would be too awkward. I will just continue to worry about his sanity from a distance and run all of my ideas by Nathalie before ever acting on them.


	3. August 3, Entry 29

**Note: Thank you for all your reviews, favorites, and follows! They mean a lot, so thank you for inspiring me to keep writing! Enjoy this chapter! Also, I'm on Tumblr at library-wallflower-blog, if you want to come talk about this fic or just say hi!**

August 3, Entry #29 of Gabriel Agreste's Secret Journal

I try not to get addicted to things. Well, I admit I do have a bit of an issue with being power-hunger. As is the case, I try to steer clear of addictions that might impede my mission to be more powerful.

I've never smoked or taken recreational drugs. I drink only on occasion, particularly when the day has been rough. I never watch more than the first season of a show, and I refuse to get Netflix. I've heard Adrien belt many anime theme songs at three in the morning, so anime is a Must Steer Clear Of At All Costs. I never listen to more than one song from the same artist, and I don't read books so that's a non-issue. And I also try not to order the same dish from a restaurant twice.

However.

Today, the intern brought in a case of pastries from her parents bakery, and I cannot stop thinking about those chocolate-filled croissants.

On my schedule, I saw I had a lunch appointment with my son to discuss his life goals. Or more accurately, my goals for his life that he will follow like the good son he is. I am rocking this whole parenting thing. But that's besides the point, because I asked Natalie to cancel the appointment with my son so that I could go and get about two dozen chocolate croissants from the Dupain-Cheng bakery.

I put on my black sneaking-around jacket and told my personal driver to drive me to the bakery. It was a nice day, so all the bakery windows were open, letting all the delicious smells permeate into the street. As I walked up to the door, I heard voices talking inside.

"Yeah, my dad canceled on me again so I thought I would come visit you guys for lunch."

"Well son, you know you're always welcome here."

"Thank you Tom! You're the best!"

"It's no problem at all. I'm just surprised Marinette didn't come with you?"

"I asked her to come, but she's working on a new dress design. You know how she gets when she's in the fashion zone."

The other voice chucked. "Ah yes, that sounds about right. Well, I'm glad we at least get to enjoy the presence of our future son-in-law."

I wondered if that was something all parents said about their child's friend. I asked Nathalie about it, and all she told me was to gain some common sense, so that wasn't helpful at all. Perhaps I should take to google again.

The older voice continued speaking, "So son, what are your plans today? Anything exciting going on?"

"Ah, nothing much. Nino's probably coming over later to play video games. Marinette keeps beating our butts, so we have to practice extra to even have a chance at winning."

It was then I realized the conversation was delving into trivial chit-chat I had no interest in hearing. I opened the door and stepped into the bakery. T

To my son I said, "Hello son."

To the alarmingly large man behind the counter I said, "Can I please have two dozen chocolate croissants?"

"Father!" Adrien shouted. "What are you doing here?!"

I was not prepared for this question.

"Some of the board members I'm having the lunch conference with ate some of the pastries the intern brought in. They were dying to have more, so I volunteered to go run and get some."

"Why didn't you just ask Natalie or another of your assistants to get them?" Adrien looked at me. "And why are you wearing your black sneaking-around jacket?"

"Ah well," I said, very elegantly. "I thought it would be nice to see you where my best intern lives. And this was the only jacket I had left. Nathalie took the rest to the cleaners." I cleared my throat. "I did not realize you frequented this spot.

"Uh, yeah, it's really good," my son stuttered out.

"I am now aware of that," I stated. Then hastily tacked on, "As is the rest of the board members. Who I really should be getting back to. You know how they are."

"Oh, of course."

"Two dozen chocolate croissants to go," the very large man said. He had not stopped glaring at me since I walked into the bakery. I handed him money, and he shoved a box of croissants into my hands. I have never been so scared of being murdered in my life. And I had received death threats from many of the fashion industry's elite designers.

"Thank you," I said to the man. I then turned to Adrien. "I will see you later at home. I will be in my office for the remainder of the day, as usual. So have a good rest of the day." There. That was a good fatherly thing to say. I should've ordered another croissant to congratulate myself on a job well done.

As I proudly strutted out of the bakery, I heard the man say to my son, "Why don't you stay for dinner as well? And if you want, our couch is very comfortable to sleep on. You're welcome to just stay here."

Okay, so maybe I didn't actually deserve that extra croissant for good parenting. Regardless, I realized that I should probably step up my parenting game. Worrying about my son in my secret journal clearly isn't cutting it.

On the way back to the office, while I tried to think of good parenting things to do, I stress ate all of the two dozen croissants.

I've decided to just ask Nathalie for ideas later. And perhaps order more chocolate croissants.


	4. August 4, Entry 30

August 4, Entry #30 of Gabriel Agreste's Secret Journal

I may have made a mistake. I blame Adrien entirely.

Today, I caught Adrien sneaking a cat into the house. It did not surprise me, as Adrien always wanted a pet. I figured it was an act of teenage rebellion, which honestly, I should have seen coming.

However, it did surprise me when I realized Adrien was not sneaking a cat into the house. He was sneaking a cat and her kittens back into the house after a visit to the vet's office. Because apparently, my son had been harboring a pregnant cat in his room for the past two months. According to Nathalie, one of the kittens had gotten an eye infection, and Adrien didn't want to leave the family alone, so he just took them all to the vet.

It looks like I need to start being more observant around the house.

Nathalie was very nonchalant about the whole situation. She thought it was good for Adrien to have something to take care of. The cat "taught him responsibility, while being adorable." She, however, was not okay with having more than one cat. That was just too much to handle.

So, we went up to his room to break the news.

"Adrien," I said. "You must give the kittens up for adoption."

Adrien looked up at me, his eyes wide. "But can't I keep them Father? They still need their mother, and they are just so cute."

I was about to say "Still no," when one of the kittens waddled up to me and sat on my shoe.

"See Father?" Adrien said. "They like you!"

I was not convinced, so I picked up the kitten, making sure to hold it at arm's length.

"Hello" I said.

"Meow," it replied.

I set it back down, and the kitten curled up on my shoe, falling asleep. It was then that I realized the kitten was, as my son had stated, "so cute."

Perhaps having a pet to keep me company during my long days in the office could be beneficial. Yes, yes, that was a great excuse. So I turned to Nathalie and said, "We're keeping them."

Nathalie crossed her arms. "You're not keeping the kitten Gabriel."

"Why not?"

"Three days from now, you will have forgotten it existed and failed to take adequate care of it."

"No I won't," I muttered back, scowling.

"Don't worry Nathalie," Adrien piped up from where he was playing with the kittens. "I'll care for it!"

"Does everyone think I'm not responsible enough to care for another living thing?" I asked.

"Well, you don't have a great track record," Nathalie replied, glancing over to Adrien.

She did have a point.

However, I pretended I didn't hear her, and instead picked up the kitten and held it in my arms. It started purring. "Nathalie, please can it stay? Look at it's face! How could you say no to a face like that?"

"No."

"But I've already named it! Just look at cute little Pumpernickel!"

"Still no Gabriel."

"I'll give you a raise and that new desk you've been wanting if you let us keep the kittens."

Nathalie looked over to Adrien, who was lying on the floor, surrounded by the kittens and laughing. "Fine."

"Thank you thank you thank you!" I said, clutching the cat to my chest. "Adrien, they can stay!"

"Yea! Thank you Nathalie!"

"You're welcome Adrien," Nathalie smiled. Then she turned to me, "And I expect the new desk to be there in the morning."

"Of course, I'll make it happen," I said, then she left. I exited Adrien's room as well, carrying Pumpernickel back to the office with me.

Now that I am sitting in my noticeably litter box-less office, Pumpernickel batting the papers on my desk and making this awful meowing noise, I realize maybe I should have listened to Nathalie. Too late now, I suppose. Perhaps I could convince the Gorilla to adopt Pumpernickel? But then Nathalie would give me her I-told-you-so look, and I would have given her a raise for nothing.

I guess Pumpernickel is here to stay. But preferably away from the important business papers and notes about Adrien's strangeness on my desk.


	5. August 5, Entry 31

**Note: I'm a bit behind, but enjoy this chapter a day late! It's probably my favorite so far.**

August 5, Entry #31 of Gabriel Agreste's Secret Journal

Adrien and I had our first father-son bonding experience today, and it was much better than I had anticipated.

It all started yesterday at dinner when Adrien told me he wanted to take a drive in the country.

I told him, "Okay, as long as you are safe and let the Gorilla drive behind you."

He said, "Of course."

Then I told him that I would also be in the countryside, as I was attending a shoot there for the fall line. The photographer wanted some nature shots to complement the clothes. I suggested that perhaps we should drive together.

Adrien shuffled around a bit, then said. "I'm sorry Father, but if it's okay, I would rather drive separately. Marinette is also coming with me."

"Oh, why is that?"

"Well, uh, you see-"

I interrupted my son, as I realized what he was trying to say. "Ah, the intern wanted to be a part of the shoot, didn't she? You two were planning to visit the set, weren't you? She could have just asked, you know, instead of going through you. I would have been quite pleased to offer her a chance to go."

"Err, yeah! Yes Father, that's exactly the reason! See, Marinette didn't want to overstep since you invited her to your last shoot. It was my idea to drive by it."

"Very well then. Since you both want to be there, I'll allow you both to come. I expect to see the two of you promptly at nine in the morning there. I'll have Nathalie email you the address and directions."

"Thank you Father." For some reason, Adrien didn't seem nearly as excited as I was expecting.

Anyway, this morning I left the house, my personal driver escorting me to the shoot. I considered bringing along Pumpernickel for company, but then remembered the no-litter-box incident from yesterday. I figured it was best to leave her in Nathalie's care, even if I did have to endure an I-Told-You-So look.

Everything was going fine, until the car started smoking halfway through our drive. My personal driver pulled over, and I got out my phone to call for another car.

It was then I realized we were in the middle of nowhere, I refused to hitch-hike, and that if I was to call for another car, I would be late to the shoot. That would be unacceptable.

Then I remembered that Adrien was also on his way to the shoot, and that perhaps I could hitch a ride with him and the intern.

I called him. "Hello Son, this is your Father."

"Mr. Agreste! Is something wrong?"

"Hello intern. Where is my son?"

"He's driving, and thought it would be unsafe to answer his phone."

"Very well, a smart decision. Intern, how close are you to the shoot?"

"Um, we are just about halfway."

"Perfect," I said, then hung up because the car started making a hissing noise, and thought it best to check with the driver to see if I frantically needed to run away.

After making sure the car was not going to explode, I realized I probably should have given the two more details. It was then too late to call them back, as I saw an Agreste car making its way down the road.

I frantically waved my arms up and down to catch their attention. It seemed to work, as the car suddenly put on its breaks, swerved a little, then slowly pulled up beside me.

"Father!" Adrien ran out of the car, the intern close behind him. "What happened?!"

"The car broke down. I need you two to take me to the shoot or else I'll be late. That cannot happen." Adrien and the intern looked at each other.

"Sure!" The intern squeaked out. Adrien sighed.

"Thank you." I said. "Now Adrien, where is the Gorilla?"

"Oh," Adrien scratched the back of his neck. "We may have...lost him."

"You what?"

"Um, lost him? Maybe we turned down a few alleys to confuse him, called him and told him we were hanging out at Nino's instead, and since Nathalie has approved that as a safe place to hang out, he didn't have to follow us?"

"Hmm," I said. "You're lucky you weren't attacked. It's a good thing I called and found you. Now, hand my driver your keys so he can drive us."

My son stared at me. "You're just going to leave the other car on the side of the road?"

"Yes. I've already called Nathalie to get someone to pick it up."

"Of course you did," Adrien mumbled, fishing out his keys.

"Good. Now, let's get going. We are running right on time." I opened the back door and motioned for the intern to get in. I got into the car after her, taking the middle seat. Adrien stood outside the car, aghast.

"Father!" he hissed. "What are you doing?!"

"Preparing to leave for the shoot, as you should be doing as well." I patted the seat next to me.

"Don't you want to sit in the front?"

"And sit by the driver? No. That would be improper for someone of our rank."

"Our rank, why would that even…?" Adrien let out a sigh. "Father, at least let me sit by Marinette."

"I'm sorry Adrien, but I must sit in the middle. Looking at the horizon line calms the stress I have concerning the shoot."

Adrien grumbled, but he eventually sat beside me. The driver turned on the car, and immediately, the song "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" came blasting out of the speakers.

"Son," I turned toward Adrien. "I did not realize you liked the Lion King so much."

"Uh, yeah Father." Adrien's face was red. "It's a great movie."

"Yes, yes it is." It was then I noticed the intern had been quiet for quite some time. I turned to her, about to ask how she was liking working at Agreste Fashions, when I saw a basket on her lap.

I pointed to it, "Why is there a basket?"

"Um, well, we didn't know how close we would be to a restaurant for lunch, so we packed a little something to eat," the intern said, smiling sheepishly.

"A wise move," I nodded. "Speaking of lunch, it is getting later and I did not eat breakfast. Would you mind if we broke into the food now?"

Adrien put his head in his hands. "Sure Father. Eat what you want."

"Thank you," I said as the intern passed me the basket. Inside, I found chocolate-covered strawberries. As I took a bite of the chocolatey goodness, the song "Can't Help Falling In Love" by Elvis Presley came over the sound system.

"Delicious. Would you two like some?"

"Yes, thank you," the intern said.

"Okay," said my son.

"They are really good, Adrien," commented the intern.

"Thanks, this is just not how I imagined us eating them."

"It's better, correct?" I said. "You know, I think this is the closest we've eaten together in a long time. Normally we sit at opposite ends of the huge dining table."

"Yes," said Adrien. He sighed again.

I was still a bit hungry, so I looked into the basket again and pulled out a plain croissant.

"Look at that. It's in the shape of a heart. Impressive," I said, then gobbled down the whole thing.

"Wow, what a coincidence," Adrien muttered. The intern smothered a laugh behind her hand.

I looked in the basket some more. "This is a poorly packed lunch. Where is the meat? Vegetables? Cheese? Oh wait, I see the camembert. Although, you do have the desserts covered. Adrien, just because you don't model as much doesn't mean you can be careless about what you eat. I didn't hire you a nutritionist for nothing."

"I'll keep that in mind Father," Adrien muttered as yet another love song came over the radio. Strange. I'll add that to Adrien's list of weird quirks. Perhaps I'll ask Nathalie if she thinks I should be worried about that.

Regardless, the rest of the drive passed very nicely, even if I did most of the talking, and Adrien kept sighing dramatically. I'll have to ask Nathalie about that weird behavior too.

We arrived to the shoot at the perfect time, and it went very well. Adrien and the intern stayed all day watching and learning from me, and then, as we were driving home together, I found some heart-shaped chocolate croissants in the bottom of the basket. It was a wonderful day.


	6. August 6, Entry 32

August 6, Entry #32 of Gabriel Agreste's Secret Journal

Today, Adrien walked in on me making a blanket fort in the dining room.

I feel as if I should explain.

Apparently, the board wants Agreste Fashions to make a line catered toward children. I agreed, but after several hours of brainstorming, realized I had no idea what types of clothes children want and need. I decided my best option was to put myself in a child-like frame of mind. I remembered one day when I came home from work to find toddler Adrien and his mother building a blanket fort. I helped them finish building it, and we had a fun family night. I decided to build a blanket fort like the one I remembered in order to put myself in a child-like frame of mind.

However, building a blanket fort when I was ten years older was a much more difficult task than I was anticipating.

Perhaps it was not my best plan, but it was all I had in the moment. I refused to give up. I frantically called Nathalie, telling her to order me twelve hundred blankets.

"Nathalie, it is absolutely essential that I have twelve hundred blankets as soon as possible."

"You can have twelve."

"Twelve hundred."

"Eleven."

"Twelve hundred."

"Ten. Each time you counter with twelve hundred, you lose a blanket."

"Fine." Two hours later, ten blankets arrived at the house. I began to build my masterpiece.

There were only two problems. One, Pumpernickel loved to destroy all my hard work. I solved this problem by having the Gorilla babysit her.

The second problem was that I had forgotten how to make a blanket fort. It turns out it takes much more skill than just throwing blankets over furniture.

I was trying to stretch a blanket between two chairs when Adrien walked in.

"Hello son."

"Father?" Adrien's head tilted in confusion.

"Oh, this?" I gestured to the blanket mess. In doing so, I knocked one of the supporting chairs with my arm, making the whole structure topple. I glared at the offending mess. "I'm trying to build a blanket fort for work."

"Ooookay." Adrien's eyebrows were still furrowed. "Do you need some, uh, help?"

"It would be greatly appreciated." Adrien joined me, and in no time, we had a modest blanket fort built. If only Nathalie had gotten me twelve hundred blankets, it could have been so much better. On my next review of her performance, I will have to put "Hindered me from building the greatest blanket fort in existence by refusing to buy me twelve hundred blankets" in the negative column. But alas, we did the best with what we had.

"Adrien," I turned toward my son. "How are you so good at this? Is it because you are still young? Is your blanket-fort-making ability gone when you reach a certain age?"

"Oh no," Adrien laughed. "Any person can make an awesome blanket fort. I've just had a lot of practice recently." He looked off in the distance, his face getting all dreamy. Very strange. I am putting it on the steadily growing 'Adrien's Strange Behaviors List.' "I love building them in my room, sitting and talking about everything with Mar— MY CATS. MY CATS. Yes, they are excellent company!"

I frowned. "How do your cats not ruin your fort? Pumpernickel was a nuisance when I was trying to build this."

Adrien chuckled. "You have to put lots of treats around the fort. They'll mess with that and not touch the blankets."

"Smart," I nodded, and the two of us continued to build. In no time, we finished it. I stayed in there the rest of the night, making Nathalie come in to deliver my dinner. She did not look impressed, but she did stay for a bit to talk with me. Mainly about my schedule for tomorrow, but it was talking none the less.

The rest of the night, I designed clothes for the children's line. I have to say, the results were promising. I'll send them to Nathalie tomorrow morning to get her opinion on them. But for now, I'm going to curl up and sleep in the blanket fort. It is surprisingly fun to be in. Perhaps I'll have it permanently installed in the house. Who needs a dining room when you can have a blanket fort instead? I'm sure Nathalie will approve of that plan.


	7. August 7, Entry 33

August 7, Entry #33 of Gabriel Agreste's Secret Journal

Today did not start off well.

At 4 a.m. this morning, I woke up to Pumpernickel breathing in my face. Then I panicked, as I could not see my Darth Vader nightlight in its usual place. Next, I realized I was not in a bed at all, and thought Pumpernickel and I had been kidnapped. Then I remembered that I had opted to sleep in the blanket fort.

I was still not done panicking, however, because suddenly parts of my dream came back. After ruminating on it for a good little while, I called Nathalie because I had to talk to someone about it.

"Nathalie, I have a very important question to ask you," I hissed into the phone as soon as she picked up.

"Are you, Adrien, or the Gorilla in the hospital?"

"No, why would you ask-"

"Is the house on fire?"

"No, are you-"

"Then the question can wait until I get to work. Good night Gabriel."

"No, Nathalie! Don't hang up! This is really important! I've spent the last twenty minutes thinking about it!"

"Once again, it can wait. Good night."

"Wait! I'll let you come in after lunch if you answer my question."

There was a moment of silence, then "Deal." I sighed in relief. "What is your question Gabriel?"

"Am I Voldemort?"

"Excuse me?"

"Nathalie, I think I'm Voldemort. See, I had a dream that he came to the house and told me I had to lead the Death Eaters in his absence, but I told him I couldn't because I had Pumpernickel to take care of, but then he told me I had the palest hair in the entire world, so I had to take his place."

"Gabriel, what in the world."

"Obviously the dream is nonsense, but then I got to thinking that if we were the Harry Potter universe, I would be Voldemort. Nathalie, it's very worrying. I am pale like him, I yell at those around me, I have an issue with not being in a position of power, and I have a secret diary. Yesterday, I gave Adrien the awkwardest hug after we finished building the fort, and now that I look back, it was much like the one Voldemort gave Draco...Oh my, Nathalie. I am Voldemort."

"Gabriel, you are not-"

"So if I'm Voldemort, that obviously makes Adrien Draco and Pumpernickel Nagini. You're Bellatrix because you're my second in command and-wait, no, if you are next in power that means you're Snape. Yes, that makes much more sense. You protect Adrien like Snape protects Draco, and you were his teacher for a time."

"I don't think-"

"The Gorilla is my third in command, which means he must be Lucius, but he doesn't have the hair or the dance moves to pull him off. We'll make him Bellatrix instead. Yes yes, much better. Who else is in my life? Oh, the urchin. That's easy. He's Percy Weasley because no one likes him, but he doesn't have the stomach to be one of the Death Eaters or Umbridge. The intern must be one of my young followers. She's around Adrien a lot, so she has to be either Crabbe or Goyle. She's got some brains, let's make her Goyle."

"Can you please go back to sleep and stop referring to yourself as Voldemort? This is getting out of hand Gabriel."

"No, look at all the evidence! It all makes sense and fits together! I must be Voldemort! Nathalie, or should I call you Snape from now on, me being Voldemort is the only thing that makes sense if this were the Harry Potter universe! Aren't you finding this the least bit concerning?"

"What's concerning is how much thought you've put into this."

"Snape, do other people think I am Voldemort? Do you know what this could do to my reputation? Being associated with a murderer, the person who killed the wizarding world's sweethearts, Lily and James Potter? The press would drag my name through the mud! Snape, you have got to help me."

After a few more minutes of ranting, I realized she had hung up on me.

"A very Snape move," I muttered, then tried to fall back asleep with little success. Instead, I googled "How not to be Voldemort," which also led me to very little success. I guess I must now accept my fate. Time to start designing a black cloak for me and all my followers.


	8. August 8, Entry 34

**Notes: Thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews, favorites, and follows! Enjoy!**

August 8, Entry #34 of Gabriel Agreste's Secret Journal

I have decided to add a new addition to the house.

Looking back at all of my journal entries, I realized that I have been getting much better at this whole parenting thing. Adrien and I had our first road trip, we ate lunch together, built a blanket fort, and so on. I got to thinking that perhaps I should put my newfound parenting skills to use, and get another child. I decided it would be very beneficial to Adrien. Perhaps his strangeness would abate if he had another human to relate to and talk with.

"Nathalie," I called her on the phone. "Can you please get me some adoption papers?"

"Gabriel, why?"

"I have decided to adopt a child."

"No."

"Nathalie, this is not your decision. I have decided that Adrien needs a brother or sister, and I have been getting especially good at being a parent lately. I haven't even abandoned Pumpernickel like you said I would."

"That does not mean you can just adopt a child."

"I know. That's why I need you to get me the paperwork."

Nathalie sighed. "I'll try this from a different angle. Gabriel, you do know it takes months and sometimes years to adopt a child."

"That is...much longer than I was expecting. That will not do. Adrien and I are getting to old to wait that long. I need a child now."

"You do realize how creepy that sounds, don't you?"

So classic adoption was not an option. I thought about other ways to get a child.

My voice lowered. "Nathalie. Would you-"

She interrupted me. "I swear, if you are going to ask me to bear your new child, I am hanging up on you right now."

"No, I was going to ask you if you could look up the requirements to start an orphanage. But if that's an option..."

"No." And she hung up.

I was back to square one.

The more I got thinking, the more I realized that perhaps instead of a child, I should adopt a teenager. They were much easier to handle, and they would make a better companion for Adrien. Instead of officially adopting them, I could just take them under my wing, give them support, and welcome them into the Agreste family.

I thought about all the teenagers I could adopt. Adrien was already my son. I was not going to touch the urchin with a ten foot pole, much less make him family. That left the intern.

I was about to page her into my office and tell her the good news when Adrien walked in.

"Hello son," I said.

"Father, I came in to ask you— wait, are you wearing all black?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

I looked off into the distance. "You know."

"I know what?"

"You-Know-Who."

"Father?!" Adrien looked alarmed.

"You'll find out soon enough Dra-son" I coughed. "Never mind. I have excellent news to share with you."

"News?"

"Now, it is not official yet, as I still need to get permission. But, I believe I will get it with no issue. So it is practically official."

"Father, what's going on?"

"Adrien, the intern is going to be your new sister."

Adrien's face went white, his mouth opening and closing. "M-Marinette?! Sister?!" he sputtered out.

"Yes, the intern. That's what I said. She's going to be-"

"No, Father." Adrien interrupted me for the first time in his life. "Never ever say that again."

"Why not? It's going to be true soon. Marinette is going to be your sister."

Adrien looked like he was sweating, his face slowly turning a pale green. "You can't just adopt my— you can't just adopt any person you want!"

"I don't see why not. She's my best option for finding you a companion, as I worry about your social skills growing up as an only child. I decided that since I have been getting better at parenting, I would improve your social skills by finding you a sibling. And I found the intern!"

"Father, really, I'm fine. Seriously. I don't need a sibling, and I'm more than capable at finding myself a companion. Plus, Marinette's already got a loving family. You can't just go up and adopt her. That's not how it works! You can mentor her, yes. Adopt her, no."

"Drats," I muttered. Adrien looked to be a tad bit less green. "She would have made such a good daughter."

Adrien coughed, his face color steadily inching toward red. "Give it a few years, maybe you can still call her that."

I straightened up. "You mean I can adopt her then?"

"Close, Father, but adopting wasn't what I was suggesting."

I squinted at him. "Then what did you mean?"

Adrien sighed, "Nothing Father, nothing." Then he left without even asking me the question he had.


	9. August 9, Entry 35

August 9, Entry #35 of Gabriel Agreste's Secret Journal

Today, I went to the designers' offices to check how progress with the upcoming spring line was going. When I passed one of the rooms, I saw the intern pinning clothing on a mannequin. This was very unusual, as normally interns fetched coffee or did other mundane tasks. The intern was exceptional, as far as interns went, but I was still surprised the designer she was working under let her handle the construction of his designs. Then again, I did pair her with a lax designer, in the hopes he would let her actually design a bit.

Regardless, I decided to investigate.

The intern had her back to the door, but as soon as the door opened, she started talking.

"Hey, I'm so sorry about missing lunch! The designer's got me working on his piece! He actually took my advice on the dress! So that's why he let me work on it while he went out on a fabric run. It's pretty exciting, but I've been working all morning and couldn't get away for lunch. I missed you, kitty. Maybe we can get dinner? I'm sure my parents would love to have you over again, unless you wanted to go somewhere, just the two of us. Or we could invite Nino and Alya, have a double date. We haven't done that in a while, how does that sound?"

I stayed silent, as I was not expecting this, nor did I know how to respond. Perhaps if I didn't make a noise, the intern would forget I was there, and I could exit without the awkwardness of overhearing her conversation.

"Are you okay? You haven't said anything Adrie-ahhh!" Upon turning around to see me standing in the doorway, the intern jumped and dropped the piece of fabric she was holding. She looked at me with fear in her eyes. "It's you! Gabriel Agreste! Not Ad-Someone else!"

"Yes, that is my name." The intern was completely red.

"H-how much of that did-did you hear?"

"All of it."

"Are you going to f-fire me?"

"Why would I fire you for mistaking me for someone else? It was my fault for not announcing my presence when I walked in the door. I knew I shouldn't have listened to Nathalie when she told me hiring a trumpeter to trumpet whenever I entered a room was a bad idea."

"But, about what you heard…"

"About your romantic interest?" I waved my hand. "I do not care about trivial teen romances. I am much more interested in what improvements you made on the dress."

The intern blinked.

Before she could respond, Adrien ran through the door, his face red and sweaty.

"Hey, Buga—ahhhhhh!" Adrien screamed when he saw me. The intern stiffened.

"Hello son," I said.

"Father! I was not expecting you here!"

"Obviously," I sniffed. The two teens just stood there staring at me, so I felt the need to continue on the conversation. "It seems as if the intern has a healthy social life, and is even dating someone."

"Father, I can explain, we—"

I cut him off, not finished with my thought. "Now, I know your social skills are subpar. Perhaps you could take some tips from the intern. There is no reason for you to date right now unless you feel the inclination, but still, it would be good for you to learn normal teenaged social behaviors from her."

At this, the intern squeaked. Taking into account the last few minutes, perhaps I should reconsider thinking of her as a "Normal Teenager." Oh well. She was the closest teen I knew to it.

Adrien gulped. "Sure, Father."

The intern spoke up again, "Perhaps I could start giving him lessons now? If you would let us leave work early, Mr. Agreste, I could take Adrien out to late lunch and show him what normal teens do." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her wink at Adrien. Strange. No doubt another teenaged custom. Perhaps I should start winking at Nathalie, see if she thinks it's normal and cool. Maybe then she would let me hire a trumpeter.

"Yes, that sounds like a good idea," I said. "Thank you, and enjoy your meal. Adrien, charge it to Agreste Fashions."

"Of course, thank you Father," Adrien replied, blushing.

When the two came back, they both seemed to have enjoyed their time together. Adrien seemed much more versed in teenaged behaviors. I should have them spend more time together. I'll have to consult Nathalie and see what she thinks.

I'll do that right after I google "What it means when two teens wink at each other" and "Closest trumpeter to me that I can hire to make my entrances into rooms more grand."


	10. August 10, Entry 36

August 10, Entry #36 of Gabriel Agreste's Secret Journal

I regret the entire day.

Much to my chagrin, one of the photographers moved up the date for a countryside shoot to today. This wouldn't have been a problem, except it was for young adult mens' wear. Meaning, it was clothes made for Adrien to model. And Adrien was already at another shoot.

Now, that left me with two options. I could either find a random teenaged boy on the street to model for me, but the last time I did that, the police were called, so that's probably not my best choice. My only other option was to find one of Adrien's friends and have him model instead.

The only problem with this being that Adrien did not have many male friends. Or friends in general. He did have a lot of people in his class he enjoyed talking to, but only during school hours. It would no doubt be strange for me to ask them to model million dollar clothes for my line.

If only this was a general young adult shoot and not just a male young adult shoot, as I could just get the intern or that blogger friend of hers to do the job. But no, I was left with the urchin.

Sigh.

The day was already starting off bad.

I thought about calling the urchin to get him to the Agreste mansion, but then I remembered that this was the urchin, and it was probably best that I just show up at his house. That way his parents could sign a release right then, and we could leave immediately to the shoot without another trip to prison.

A few minutes later, I knocked on his door. The urchin answered.

"Hello urchin," I said.

"Mr. Agreste?" The urchin looked at me strangely. "What are you doing at my house? I didn't even know you knew where I lived."

I gave him a haughty look. "I make it a priority to do background checks on all of Adrien's acquaintances. I find out where they live in case Adrien ever runs away and I have to scope out places where he might be."

"So you stalked me," the urchin said.

"With good intentions," I replied. "But never mind that. It is not important, as Adrien has yet to run away. I came here because I need to ask you a favor."

The urchin's eyes narrowed. "What do you want from me?"

"I need a male model to model part of the fall line. Right now you're the closest thing I have to that. So take off those horrendous headphones, get permission from your parents, and let's go to the countryside so we can shoot you wearing some very fancy clothes."

The urchin stared at me in shock. "You want to shoot me with a camera right, not an actual gun?"

It took me a moment to respond. "...yes."

"Okay, wanted to make that clear," the urchin said, eyeing me warily. "But dude, I thought you hated me. Like it's a great offer to model for you, but I think I have a better use for my time."

I stuck my nose up in the air and glared down at the urchin. "Remember when I said I was asking you a favor? I was incorrect. I was telling you what you were going to be doing today. While the hating is true urchin, as much as I dislike saying this, you are the only person I have."

The urchin still didn't look convinced so then I said, "And you will get paid. Enough to buy one of those DJ turning table things I've heard you and Adrien talking about."

"Sold," the urchin stated.

Then began the rest of my terrible day.

It took no time at all to get permission from the urchin's mother. She was just excited her son was going to be famous. I told her, "Only fashion professionals will see her son, he will not really be famous." But she still did not seem convinced. I didn't want to correct her too much, as she could easily not allow the urchin to go.

Soon enough the urchin and I were in a car headed for the countryside. Normally, the models arrived in their own car, but as this was the untrustworthy urchin I was dealing with, I decided to have him ride with me. That way I could keep a watch over him. Also, it got me close enough to discreetly sniff him in order to test my Normal Teenaged Boy Theory. It worked, as I could sniff to my hearts delight and not have the urchin look at me weirdly once.

As I suspected, the urchin did not smell of Camembert. I then decided to sniff for other cheeses on the urchin. That way, I could see if all teenaged boys nowadays picked a different cheese to smell like. I sniffed for Gouda, Brie, and even Cheddar, but no luck. Shame. The urchin failed at the one thing he was useful for.

We didn't speak for a good half of the journey, until I told the urchin, "Urchin, you will need to take off the unfashionable headphones for the shoot."

The urchin shifted the hideous headphones on his shoulders. "But dude, we're not at the shoot yet. They can stay for a bit longer."

It was at this moment I realized I wanted to climb the highest mountain and shout "THE URCHIN" in a very deep voice while slowly raising my fist and shaking it at the sky in order to let out my frustration.

Instead, I said, very politely, "We are almost there. Take off those idiotic headphones so I can make sure you don't have any deformities. I need to inform the photographer if he will have to Photoshop it out later."

The urchin had the audacity to snort. "Don't think you have to worry about that my dude."

I decided to save my dignity and not respond. I lifted my chin a bit higher in the air.

However, his response made be think about what I have to actually worry about. I decided I might as well ask the urchin about Adrien's behavior, as he is, much to my dismay, his best friend. Perhaps he will have some insight Nathalie and Google did not.

"Urchin," I said. "Do you know why my son smells of Camembert?"

"Uh, no dude. I always thought it was a gross-smelling fancy cologne you made him wear."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "No, I thought it was some strange teenaged boy thing."

The urchin chuckled. "Nah, that's an Adrien thing."

The urchin's response just made my worry increase. Perhaps I might actually have to talk with and question my son. Or maybe I'll just have Nathalie do it for me.

The urchin then turned to me and asked, "Hey, why do you call me an urchin."

I sniffed. "Because you are an urchin."

"Yeah, but, can you stop calling me that?"

I sniffed louder. "I will stop calling you the urchin when you stop being an urchin."

"When will that be?"

"Never, urchin. Never."

The urchin huffed, but didn't ask again. Thankfully, the trip was silent the rest of the way.

The shoot itself went terrible. It took forever to get his headphones and hat off, not to mention the time it took him to get into the outfit he had to wear. Then, to top it off, the urchin was rubbish at modeling. Am I surprised? No, but it was still horrible to endure.

By the time the photographer got photos he and I approved of, it was very, very late. Everyone was exhausted, me included. That is what I get for staying up late last night Googling. One minute I'm looking at YouTube videos of trumpeters, and three hours later I'm watching a video about how to make a Kylo Ren cosplay.

Never mind that. The urchin and I got into our car and headed home. In seconds, the urchin was snoring, dead asleep.

I glared at him disdainfully, and looked out the window. However, the dark surroundings, the rumble of the road, and the exhaustion I was feeling quickly lulled me to sleep as well.

It was a weak moment, okay?

I woke up to the sound of the car shutting off. Then to my horror, I realized I was not leaning against the cold window, but instead against something warm. I jolted, only to have my chin hit by the urchin's head as he shot up in alarm. We looked at each other with wide eyes.

"We will never speak of this again. Adrien must never know." Nino nodded solemnly, and exited the car to go into his house.

I went home and took six showers to rid myself of the urchin's urchinness. That was the worst shoot ever. Next time this happens, I'll just take a random stranger and go to prison again rather than deal with the urchin.


	11. August 11 , Entry 37

**Note: Hello! I apologize for such the long delay, but I found part of this in my drafts, so I finished it and decided to post it! The original prompt was stuffed animals, I believe.**

 **I will hopefully have a new chapter up every week, but since it's no longer fluff month, I thought I'd ask you readers for one-word prompts! Thanks for reading, and enjoy!**

Today, I made an interesting discovery.

I was walking around the house in my newly designed cloak, Pumpernickel trailing after me, when I stumbled upon a large box in the foyer.

"Nathalie!" I called out. "What is the meaning of this?" But then I remembered I had sent her to the nearest department store to pick me up a Kylo Ren lightsaber. She was not in the house. My query was useless.

I decided to take matters into my own hands and investigate the rather large box myself. After scouring the house for twenty minutes trying to find scissors, I finally opened the box.

Much to my confusion, it contained a buttload of stuffed animals. From what I could tell, all of them seemed romantic, such as large hearts or bears holding large hearts or walruses holding bears holding large hearts.

Strange. I couldn't remember late-night binge buying a bunch of stuffed animals.

I was about to call Nathalie on the phone when Adrien walked into the foyer.

"Hello son," I said.

"Meow," said Pumpernickel.

"Hi Father!" Adrien waved at me. "And hello little Pumpernickel!" Pumpernickel waddled over and rubbed itself against Adrien's legs.

"Traitor," I muttered.

"Hey Father?" Adrien looked up at me from where he was petting Pumpernickel. "Are you wearing that cloak again?"

"Yes. Yours will be ready shortly."

"Mine?"

"Yes."

"Father, it's really okay, I don't need a cloak."

"You must have it to complete the set. Don't worry, Nathalie and the Gorilla will be getting ones as well."

"Ooookay." Adrien stood up, and Pumpernickel meowed in protest. His gaze fell on the opened box. "Oh, I didn't think it would be here already..."

I pointed at it. "This box is yours?"

"Y-yeah."

I squinted at him. "Why did you order a buttload of stuffed animals holding hearts?" I stepped closer to the box and began to rifle through it. There were an awfully lot of stuffed animals in the form of cats, I noticed. Not particularly surprising, considering Adrien's love of cats.

"Well Father," Adrien twisted his hands together. "I guess now is as good of time as any. There's something you should probably know."

I made a hmm noise as I continued searching through the box. "What is it son?"

"Uh, I guess, well, Father, I'm seeing someone."

"Well, yes, you're seeing me now. Unless you're telling me you need glasses?"

"No! No, not like that. I'm uh dating someone."

i stood up, facing my son. "You are what?"

Adrien rubbed a hand behind his neck, his face getting redder and redder. "I am in a relationship. Have been for a while now actually…"

I stared at my son.

Adrien fidgeted.

I continued to stare, trying to process this new, completely surprising information.

"Father? Are you okay?" Adrien finally asked after eight minutes had passed.

"I am just quite flummoxed Adrien. How did this even happen?"

"Wait," Adrien looked at me, his eyes narrowing. "You honestly had no clue I was seeing someone?"

"No idea!" I threw my hands up in the air, the sleeves of my cloak billowing. "Adrien, I was expecting at least another three years before you gained the social skills to begin dating, what with your isolated childhood, strange penchant to wear the same clothes everyday, and inability to find cologne that doesn't smell like cheese."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence Father."

"You are welcome. I did think I was being generous giving you three years."

Adrien gave a hysterical laugh. "I don't know why I'm even surprised anymore."

I was unsure of exactly what Adrien was referring to, but decided to let it be. After all, I had more pressing concerns, such as how this new romantic interest of Adrien's was going to fit into my Harry Potter universe. I was planning a group picture two days from now, but if his partner turned out not to be a death eater, I would have to order a whole different set of robes which would set everything behind.

It was very concerning.

I decided to put an end to my wondering.

"Adrien, will you please tell me who your significant other is so that I may sort them into my Harry Potter universe."

"I thought you would never ask, I'm—wait, your what?"

"Do not worry about it Dra-my son. Just tell me who it is."

Adrien took in a deep breath. Just then, I happened to glance down at the box of stuffed animals, with its abundance of black cats, and everything finally clicked.

"Son, I see why you were so hesitant to tell me who you were dating." I said as soon as Adrien opened his mouth to begin talking. "You were worried I would not allow you to date that person anymore. Fear not Adrien! As long as you are never put into harms way or used as leverage, I am perfectly okay with you dating a superhero."

Adrien's jaw dropped. "Wait, you know?"

I laughed, moving over to give Adrien a fatherly pat on the back. "Of course I know you're dating Chat Noir now. It all makes sense. The black cat stuffed animals are a gift for him, right?"

Adrien paled.

"It is okay son, there is no need to say anything. I fully support your decision to date a superhero, you need not worry about keeping secrets from me anymore!"

I began to walk away, as I determined that Adrien probably wanted to deliver the stuffed animals. No doubt they were an inside joke between the two.

"Father, wait, no—" I heard Adrien say.

"Don't worry about me Adrien, go and have fun. I must return to my office, as I now have a new cloak order to put in immediately." Chat Noir was definitely more of a Cedric than a death eater. Hopefully it would not be a problem to find someone to make the Hufflepuff robes.

I must tell Nathalie about the new developments. No doubt she will congratulate me about being so observant.


	12. August 12, Entry 38

August 13, Entry #38 of Gabriel Agreste's Secret Journal

I think it's finally time I gave Nathalie a raise.

It was the afternoon, as I was researching ways to make one's hair more evil villiany, when Nathalie barged into my office.

"Gabriel, we need to talk," Nathalie said.

"Yes?" I replied, quickly running a hand through my hair to make it appear taller.

Nathalie did not even bat an eye.

"What is going on? Did you not approve my idea for a cat clothing line? Because the cat top hat is sure to be a bestseller."

Nathalie heaved a sigh. "It's not approved Gabriel. I told you, the cat swimsuits were too much. But that is not what I needed to talk about."

"Oh, is it about the cheese-scented cologne I wanted you to look into? Or perhaps the life-size death star I wanted you to buy?"

"Why do I even work here anymore?" Nathalie grumbled. "I should just start my own fashion company."

"Snape!" I yelled, clutching my chest. "How could you betray me!"

Nathalie leveled a glare at me. "Fairly certain that's in my job description Voldemort."

"Fair enough. Now, what did you want to speak to me about?"

"These." Nathalie stated, slamming a bunch of crumpled-up papers onto Gabriel's desk. "The janitor found them when he was cleaning out your office trash can, and showed them to me because he worried you had gone off the deep end."

"Please. I am perfectly sane," I stated, moving the empty bakery boxes that had held two dozen chocolate croissants this morning beneath my desk with my foot to hide them. Based on Nathalie's narrowed gaze, I do not think I pulled it off.

"Then explain to me why you are trying to write to Chat Noir and invite him over for dinner."

"For Adrien, of course. I thought it best that I finally get introduced to my son's boyfriend."

Nathalie looked at me, her mouth turning down. "You're kidding."

"I most definitely am not!"

"Gabriel," Nathalie said, very slowly, and I knew I was in trouble. She only used that tone when I had royally made a mistake. Like the time I thought another model was Adrien and only realized I had left my son behind in Milan when I got back to the mansion and Nathalie asked me who the person standing beside me was. Or when I wanted to look down on everyone so I ordered a giant black horse to ride around on everywhere and it pooped all over the Agreste Fashions Building. The entire place had to be fumigated, and our fall line was delayed two weeks because of it.

"Gabriel, Adrien is not dating Chat Noir. He is dating Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

I squinted my eyes at her. "Who?"

Nathalie sighed. "The intern.

"WHAT?" I shouted.

"Honestly, how could you not know?"

"Nathalie, there is no way this can be true."

I was worried Nathalie was going to throw her tablet at me. Instead, she calmly said, "Gabriel, just think over the past couple months, and then see if you can tell me that Adrien and Marinette aren't dating."

I thought.

"Oh," I said. "Well, that really throws the whole adopting-the-intern plan out the window."

"Seriously Gabriel? That's the only response you can think of to say."

"Of course not! I'm also thinking that Adrien better not mess up this relationship or I'll never be able to eat chocolate croissants again, which would be a truly terrifying prospect."

Nathalie just shook her head and walked out of my office, muttering "I don't get paid enough for this."

Perhaps it's finally time I filled out the paperwork to give Nathalie a raise. Right after I google 'How to hide plans for a villain-inspired hair salon built in the basement of my mansion so that the janitor looking through my trash can't find it and report it back to my assistant.'


	13. August 13, Entry 39

**Author's Note: Thanks so much to Writing_Bearifficly on ao3 for their amazing prompt of spots! Hope you enjoy the chapter!**

 **Chapter Summary: Prompt: Spots. Gabriel overreacts, then overreacts some more. (But really, how is this different than any other one of these chapters?)**

 **...**

 **August 13, Entry #39 of Gabriel Agreste's Secret Journal**

I am dying. There are itchy red spots on my face, arms, and stomach, and my whole body feels as if it had been run over by a train.

I called my lawyer to tell him to come see me and redraw up my will, as it had been a while since I had last done so, and some changes needed to be made. After all, I must leave a sizable portion of my wealth to Pumpernickel to make sure he is well cared for after I am gone. And I must allocate some funds to the intern so that she can start her fashion line. Someone must run the company once I am gone, and I trust the intern's fashion sense way more than my own son's. For proof, see entry: Adrien wears the same clothes every day and I am Concerned.

But back to the matter at hand. Pumpernickel was sleeping at the edge of my bed, giving me some comfort in my last hours. I had the lights dimmed, so as to not showcase the horrible spots marring my skin and marking me for death.

"Pumpernickel," I whispered in a rasping voice, reaching out for the one thing I would miss most in this world.

Pumpernickel mewled, continuing to lick his paw.

I then heard the door to my bedroom creak open, and Adrien's face appeared. "Father?" Upon seeing me in this horrific state, Adrien inquired further. "Are you okay?"

"No," I wheezed out. "I am dying."

"What?!" Adrien exclaimed, his expression looking properly panicked.

"Say goodbye Adrien, this may be the last time you ever see me alive," I stated, draping my forearm over my forehead. I coughed weakly to convince him of my sickly state.

"Father, are you serious?"

"Deathly."

Adrien looked quite sick himself, his skin suddenly going pale and hair standing up as he raked a hand through it. Finally, I thought. We look like one another.

"What brought this on?" Adrien questioned, creeping toward my bed. "I didn't know you were sick."

"I wasn't. It all happened so suddenly—one moment I was binge-eating chocolate croissants, rewatching Stranger Things, and lamenting my lack of telekinesis powers, and then I noticed this rash all over my body. My health quickly deteriorated from there."

Adrien's brows furrowed, and he took a step toward me.

"No," I protested feebly. "Stay away! It might be contagious, and I cannot have you dying and leaving the intern to run the company by herself."

Adrien choked, freezing in place. "What did you just say?"

"No, stay back, how can I ensure I become a ghost so I can haunt the Gorilla and make sure he continues feeding Pumpernickle the good cat food. Maybe I just thought that last one in my head. See what this sickness is doing to my brain!"

"You're giving Marinette Agreste Fashions?!" Adrien looked more surprised at this than he did at my inevitable death. I huffed, turning my head away from Adrien so the light from the hallway would hit my skin and make me look even paler.

"Not right away. She has to prove herself first by making her own clothing line. I'm not irresponsible," I said, hoping Adrien did not see the mountain of empty Dupain-Cheng Bakery boxes stacked next to my bed.

Adrien just slowly shook his head. "You have no idea how much this means to us. Thank you Father."

"I am glad I could give you this last bit of peace before I depart from this world." The mention of my impending death seemed to shock Adrien out of his stupor, as he turned and began to examine the red bumps marring my pristine skin. I was too exhausted to tell him to step away lest he also catch his death.

"Father," Adrien drew out the word. "Did you say you were eating the chocolate croissants when you noticed the rash?"

"…Yes."

"Well, the rash on your skin looks like hives, and since it looks like you've been eating an awful lot of chocolate croissants, I'm guessing that you must be allergic to the chocolate in the croissants. Good news is that you aren't dying."

"NOOOOOOO!" I exclaimed. "Death would be a less cruel fate!"

I then proceeded to pull the sheets over my head and bury myself in the bed to hide from this cruel, cruel world with the intent to hide there for at least several days. Three hours later, however, Nathalie forced me to withdraw myself from my cocoon and get back to work, or else she would cancel the order for authentic Harry Potter wands I had her place.

What a cruel world indeed.


End file.
